Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Sells 20,598 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp cut its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,658 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 20,598 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $34,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. First Pacific Financial acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 49.0% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $5.71 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $462.56. The company had a trading volume of 179,184 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,887,492. The stock has a market cap of $220.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $451.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $448.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $361.02 and a 52-week high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.57 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

Linde Company Profile

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.